Bed Rest
by saentiel
Summary: For most, a sick day is considered a blessing. For students, no school. For adults, a much needed break from work. But for a certain teenage alchemist, a sick day is almost as terrible as the price that he and his brother had to pay when they committed the ultimate taboo. This one-shot is centered on Ed, and the thoughts that come to him when he's given the order of bed rest.


**Bed Rest**

Edward Elric hated being sick. The thought ran through his head as he watched his younger brother rushing throughout the small apartment that they owned in Central. They barely used it-He had to dig deep into his memories to remember the last time that they had actually been it for more than a night or two.

He had ignored it at first. It had started off as a little bit of a sore throat, eventually evolving into a sharp pain in his ears every time that he swallowed. Even at that point in time, he had still ignored it. Well, attempted to. But naturally, Al had to have noticed.

"Brother, you don't look so good." He had commented.

Edward had meant to give a solid, confident reply of, "I'm fine," but before the short state alchemist could do so, he had started to cough a little. If Al had a body, Ed knew that his brother would have raised an eyebrow at his denial.

Then Colonel B****** had to notice as well. Ed had gone in, expecting to get a new mission that would give him and his brother more information on how to get their bodies back. He had entered the room, Mustang once again making a comment on his height. Ed had started to protest, but in the middle he had once again started to cough.

Unfortunately, Mustang had noticed the cough. And then noticed how pale Edward was. There was dark bags underneath his eyes, and of course Mustang had noticed them as well.

He had been ordered bed rest. With no if ands or buts. He had protested even more than when someone called him short, but the decision was final. The Fullmetal Alchemist had overworked himself, caught some sort of bug, and had been given a short break from work.

Ed had been planning on being out for only a day or two. But to his horror, it had been almost a week. A week full of disgusting medicine, orders from the doctor on what not to and what to do, and being confined to their small apartment.

Golden eyes once again focused on the metal suit of armor rushing throughout their kitchen. It was his fault that his brother was stuck like that, and he had to fix the taboo that they had committed. But he couldn't very well do that while stuck in bed.

And seeing Al trying to do all of the things that Ed was unable to do while stuck in bed hurt even more than the actual pain he currently was experiencing in his left ear.

Whenever he was sick, he felt _so_ weak. He was unable to do anything at all, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. He hated having to rely on others. He hated having to call for Al with his froggy voice every thirty minutes, asking for a new glass of water. And then he had to admit that he was in pain-Something that he never did. He had been in pain before. He had lost two of his limbs while committing human transmutation. He had gotten automail in only a year, and became a dog of the military soon afterwards. Edward Elric couldn't ever let the one person closest to him know what pain he was in. Al was supposed to look up to him as an older brother, and older brothers were supposed to be strong for their siblings. He was failing at that right now, no matter how hard he tried.

He made a silent vow that he would practically drown his hands in soap and warm water from that point on. It would be nice to say that his efforts were not wasted. It would be nice to say that afterwards being sick never got in Edward Elric's way when he was trying to gain his and his brother's bodies back from Truth. But the world doesn't always follow the laws of equivalent exchange. It was just like how the Elric brothers gave up so much to bring back their mother and failed. The world wasn't a fairy tale. Not all dreams like that came true. But later on, many years later, Edward would smile when Alphonse was visiting with his wife and needed his older brother to take care of him when he caught the same sickness Ed had gotten all those years ago.

 **A/N Hello there...My name is SoulErrorArwitch, and though FMA is my favorite fandom, I've resided mainly in the Minecraft section of this wonderful site. Just to let you know, my name's not Hiromu Arakawa. So unfortunately, I don't own this amazing series. If I did, I would make it so I revealed Scar's name at the end of the manga...(That really killed me. I wanted to know so badly!) Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed reading this story. It was inspired by how sick I've been feeling in the past week or so. The ending just kind of wrote itself. : ) Well, reviews are appreciated. Have an epic day!**

 **-Soul-**


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